Everything You Believe About Success is Made Up

Last week, I took a two day energy workshop, known as Quantum Leap, with Tony Schwartz, CEO of The Energy Project, and many leaders, business professionals (CEO’s, CHRO’s) looking honestly at who they really are and what stands in their way. The workshop serves as an introduction to a six-month deep dive leadership program to help leaders tap into internal resources they didn’t know they had while helping them access their own intrinsic worthiness so they don’t have to prove themselves to others.

It was an event production that felt like a masterpiece in motion, and you could see Tony brimming in joy at the end given the beautiful experience he led.

Below is what I’ve been pondering since I left, emotionally spent and exhausted.

PS, highly unconventional to send an email newsletter on a Sunday night, right?

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We spend our lives in pursuit—pursuit of status, of belonging, of approval. We shape ourselves to fit structures we didn’t create, obey rules we had no hand in writing, and seek validation from people who are just as lost, just as uncertain, just as shackled by the same invisible forces.

We stand before them, waiting for a “yes” or a “no,” as if they hold some divine wisdom, as if their judgment is anything more than a whisper in the wind.

But here’s the truth—none of it is real.

The systems we revere, the hierarchies we climb, the titles, the rules, the very idea of what is “worthy” and what is not—it’s all an illusion. A construct. A collective hallucination we call reality. The walls we press against, the ceilings we try to break through, the standards we fear falling short of—someone, somewhere, simply made them up. And we, without question, accepted them as truth.

So why do we care?

Why do we let ghosts of expectation dictate the way we move through the world? Why do we weigh ourselves down with the impossible burden of being “enough” for others who are just as riddled with doubt as we are?

The world does not bow to those who seek permission. It bends to those who decide to shape it—to those who see the illusion for what it is and refuse to play by its rules. The ones who let go of the fear of judgment, of rejection, of failure—because at the core of it all, there is nothing to lose.

The structures will crumble. The titles will fade. The names they praise today will be forgotten tomorrow.

So if it is all made up, then why not make up something of your own?

The ones who bend reality are not the ones who beg for approval—they are the ones who realize that nothing was ever stopping them to begin with.

Here’s the real question:

What are you still holding onto that isn’t real? What invisible rulebook are you following that was never meant for you in the first place?

Hit reply—I’d love to hear your thoughts.

P.S. If this struck a nerve, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Or check out The Energy Project.